POST 147 LEGION BASEBALL - Medford eliminated quickly in tough state tournament draw

The Medford Post 147 baseball team ran into one of the toughest pitchers in the Wisconsin American Legion Class AA state tournament and one of its most relentless offenses while quickly exiting the five-day event held at New London’s historic Hatten Memorial Stadium.

On Saturday afternoon, Medford’s attempt to stay alive gained momentum when a three-run rally in the top of the fifth inning put Post 147 on top of defending champion Seymour 4-3.

But Seymour’s Post 146 squad came right back, getting its first six batters in the bottom of the fifth on base in what eventually wound up as a five-run rally. Medford got two back in the sixth, but it wasn’t enough to avoid elimination in a 96 defeat.

Seymour beat Medford twice in last year’s tournament at West Salem while going undefeated. Many of the players from both teams were back this year. Unlike last year, Seymour lost its first game Friday to Beaver Dam 6-5. But Post 106 made another run to the title game, falling in 12-11 to Campbellsport in Tuesday night’s finale.

Medford finished its summer season at 13-6.

“Tough luck having last season’s championship teams play in an elimination game on Saturday,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said after the loss. Hraby did double-duty over the weekend also coaching Medford’s softball team at its American Legion state tournament in Merrill. “That’s the way it goes sometimes. They are a very good team, who could still win it all.”

Saturday’s game started with a bad omen as Medford immediately put runners on the corners, but Seymour’s Brady Poch pitched out of it, inducing two infield pop-ups and a flyout to center. Seymour then got two one-out singles and a two-run double from Xavier Salzman for a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom half.

Two-out walks to Ryder Kraschnewski and Sam Hierlmeier led to an RBI single for Medford’s Tanner Hraby in the top of the second. Medford’s starting pitcher, Hraby was tagged for another run in the bottom of the second on two hits and a sacrifice fly from Cayden Staffeldt, but he got two shutdown innings after that to keep Medford in it.

Post 147 made its move in the top of the fifth against Salzman, who had taken over the pitching duties for Seymour in the fourth.

Parker Lissner and Payton Schreiber led off with singles. JV Castillo nearly added a third straight hit, but Caden Steffens made a diving catch in centerfield to rob him. Jackson Blomberg singled down the rightfield line to drive in Lissner and an error, allowed Schreiber and Blomberg to advance an extra base. Charlie Gierl singled in Schreiber with the tying run and Carson Carbaugh’s hit drove in Blomberg with the go-ahead run.

“Tanner battled all game, but they put some good swings on some good pitches and found ways to come up with some key hits,” Justin Hraby said. “We battled back nicely and took the lead. We got some key hits during that stretch as guys stepped up and found ways to put the ball in play and make some things happen. Ryder Kraschnewski had some great at-bats and got us going, drawing a walk. Jackson had some long ABs and grinded out some big RBI hits in this game as well.” Just like it always seemed to in last year’s matchups, Seymour again came up with an immediate answer. Staffeldt led off the bottom of the fifth with a deep double, Salzman was hit by a pitch and Micah Byers beat out an infield hit to load the bases with no outs. Brandon Poch got an infield hit to tie it and Andrew Felty’s single put Post 106 ahead. Castillo relieved Hraby and walked Jordan Thompson to drive in a run, a run scored on Steffens’ fielder’s choice and Colten Nieland singled in the fifth run of the inning, making it 8-4. Post 147 made one last push in the sixth. Lissner reached on a one-out infield error and Schreiber reached on an outfield error. Castillo’s walk loaded the bases for Blomberg. Lissner scored on a wild pitch and Blomberg’s infield single scored Schreiber. Nieland relieved Salzman and Seymour came up with the defensive play of the game, getting a strike-him-out/throwhim-out double play to end the inning. Felty’s RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the sixth put Medford in a threerun hole going into the seventh. Nieland retired the side in order.

Seymour outhit Medford 14-10. Hraby, Lissner and Blomberg all went two for four. Brady Poch had three hits for Seymour, while Staffeldt, Salzman and Felty had two each.

Hraby allowed 10 hits and eight runs in four-plus innings while striking out one, walking one and hitting one. Castillo struck out two, walked one and allowed four hits and a run in two innings.

Salzman got the relief win despite giving up six hits and five runs, two of which were earned, in 2.1 innings. Nieland struck out three in his five-out save.

“It was a good run for these guys, with a lot of them coming back for one more summer together,” coach Hraby said. “I am excited to see where there baseball/ college careers take them.”

One-run loss

On Friday, Medford and New Richmond met in the tournament’s first round, just as they did last year when Medford beat Post 80 and its tough lefthander Aiden Eckert 1-0.

This time, Eckert and his teammates got revenge, earning a 2-1 win. Eckert, a Bethel University recruit, gave up just three hits, struck out eight and did not walk a batter while needing just 90 pitches to get through all seven innings. He was nearly matched by Schreiber, who threw only 58 pitches while pitching all six innings for Post 147, who played as the visitors.

New Richmond got six hits, few of which were hit hard. They just found the right spots at the right times. New Richmond hitters only struck out one time. Schreiber walked two batters and hit one in the tough-luck loss. The game took only 68 minutes to complete.

“We knew playing New Richmond would be tough and we knew we would see Eckert again this year,” Justin Hraby said. “He was tough. They got one more timely hit than we did.”

New Richmond struck first in the bottom of first. Max Kretovics and Mathew Fouks hit one-out singles and Max Dirks drove in Kretovics with a groundout.

Medford’s defense turned a double play to quickly get out of the second and then scored its only run in the top of the third. Evan Wilkins got Medford’s first hit with a clean single up the middle. With one out, Tanner Hraby hit a towering drive down the leftfield line that would have been out of most high school fields. But the spacious field in New London held it in as Dirks made the catch about 10 feet in front of the fence. Parker Lissner came through, however, lining a shot down the rightfield line that allowed Wilkins to score all the way from first.

Kretovics singled with one out in the bottom half and moved to second on another play unique to New London’s big playing field. Medford catcher Jackson Blomberg caught a foul pop-up hit by Fouks right on the line located on the third-base side warning track that separated the area that was in play and Medford’s dugout area and then stepped over it, automatically giving Kretovics second base. Dirks lined a single to center and Wilkins’ throw home was off-line just enough for Kretovics to dive in safely with the go-ahead run.

Medford put just one runner on base in the last four innings. That was Charlie Gierl on a two-out infield hit in the fourth. Earlier in that inning, Castillo hit a deep drive that also might have reached the fence in other parks in the state but was caught by Dirks. New Richmond stranded two runners in the fourth and Medford’s defense got another double play to quickly end the bottom of the sixth.

“We had a few balls that would have been gone in a normal park,” Hraby said. “That hurt us a bit. Payton pitched a great game, was very efficient and kept us in the game. Our defense behind him was solid as well. After Tanner’s deep flyout that would've been a homer anywhere else, Parker Lissner came up with a clutch two out double to even the score. He has hit well all postseason for us.”

All-Tournament

Lissner’s hitting and Schreiber’s pitching helped them earn spots on the All-Tournament team, which was announced after Campbellsport won Tuesday’s championship game.

Despite taking a loss, Schreiber limited New Richmond to two runs and six hits on just 58 pitches in six innings Friday. He was one for six at the plate in Medford’s two games, collecting a single and reaching on an error in Saturday’s game with Seymour. He also made a couple of nice defensive plays at third base in that game.

Lissner was one for three against New Richmond and two for four against Seymour. He played third base Friday and started at shortstop Saturday. Lissner drove in Medford’s only run Friday with a double. He also reached on an error Saturday and scored two runs in the 9-6 loss.